Tambour doors composed of individual profiled members are known in many forms. The tambour system offers many advantages for design variations, especially where space is the significant factor, e.g. in kitchens, bathrooms, etc. However, there are endless uses for tambour doors, e.g. storage cabinets, cupboards, bathroom and medical cabinets, mobile carts or trolleys, cassette boxes, office furniture, vehicle components, etc.
Typical tambour doors are available in solid wood, wood veneer, plastic material, and metal at a large variety of colors and profiles. Solid straps/slats are either pivotally articulated to one another to form the door panel, or are molded or bonded to either a strong cloth or resin impregnated non-woven backer, for retaining the slats in position and imparting the door panel pliability so it can be rolled between open and closed positions. The door panel is slidingly received within a pair of opposed guide rails/tracks (side rails or top/bottom as may be the case), and often there are provided suitable handle or latch means to facilitate displacement of the door between its closed and open positions.
Tambour panels are typically flexible panels used for fast construction of walls (in particular partitions) and ceilings, wainscot and decorative cover panels etc. and are easily constructed and applied over non-flat (curved) areas.
A variety of tambour doors and tambour panels are known. For example, earlier tambour doors comprise a door panel comprising a plurality of panels/slats arranged in juxtaposed parallel relation and adhered over a pliable layer of material. Other tambour door panels are assembled of plurality of longitudinal segments or profiles pivotally hinged to one another about their longitudinal edges. Such profiles often do not require to be adhered over a carrying matrix (e.g. cloth).
However, there also exist tambour doors where the door panel is a uniform panel made of a plastic material made by vacuum forming of a thin plastic sheet wherein the front face of the door comprises a series of relatively wide parallel face strips which are joined to each other by integral thin connecting portions having a generally U-shaped cross section. The relatively thicker face strip portions provide rigidity to the door and resist vibration while the thin interconnecting portions act as hinges to permit the door to be easily guided in a curved door track having a relatively small radius.
Some tambour closures, such as those used in roll top desks, consist of a plurality of rigid wooden strips arranged in parallel fashion side-by-side and glued to a canvas backing material. The canvas backing material allows the tambour closure to flex which in turn allows the tambour closure to follow a curved path. This type of tambour closure is typically positioned in a track or guide and is completely free to move in the track.
However, in circumstances where these doors are subjected to significant loading including circumstances where a heavy weight could be placed on the door, the typical tambour doors do not provide adequate support. Thus, a need exists for an improved tambour that has a significant weight bearing capacity while providing a decorate surface.